Huston
An English surname transferred for use as a masculine given name.
Name Census estimates that about 1,224 living Americans carry the first name Huston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Huston today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Huston births was 1922 (60 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Huston. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 280,028 Americans
Peak year
1922
60 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,964
Tracked since 1880
Census
Huston in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,085 people with the first name Huston, which placed it at #11,692 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,692
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,085 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Huston
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Huston is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Huston described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Huston at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.1% · 771
- Black or African American16.3% · 177
- Two or more races5.0% · 54
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 13
Popularity
Huston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Huston from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 475 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Huston by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Huston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hustons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Huston, while Ohio, Georgia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Huston
The name Huston is an English given name with origins dating back to the 16th century. It is believed to be a variant spelling of the Old English name Hustan, which itself is derived from the Old English words "hus" meaning house and "tan" meaning town or settlement. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived in a particular house or settlement.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Huston can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Beverley, Yorkshire, England, where a Huston Bilby was christened in 1582. This provides evidence that the name was in use during the Elizabethan era in England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the first name Huston. One of the earliest was Huston Wyeth (1619-1663), an English settler who arrived in Virginia in the 17th century and became a prominent landowner and member of the House of Burgesses.
In the 18th century, Huston Hartwell (1742-1828) was an American patriot who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He fought in several key battles, including the Siege of Charleston, and later became a successful merchant and businessman.
The 19th century saw the rise of Huston Prentiss (1805-1857), a prominent American lawyer and politician from Mississippi. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and was known for his eloquent oratory skills.
In the world of literature, Huston Smith (1919-2016) was a renowned scholar of world religions and author of the influential book "The World's Religions." He taught at several prestigious universities, including MIT and Syracuse University, and was widely respected for his insights into spirituality and comparative religion.
Another notable figure was Huston Tillotson (1865-1933), an American educator and civil rights leader. He served as the second president of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, and played a significant role in promoting higher education opportunities for African Americans in the early 20th century.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the first name Huston, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human civilization.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Huston
People
Huston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Huston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Huston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Huston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,224 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Huston going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 280,028 US residents.
Is Huston a common name?
We classify Huston as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,704 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Huston most popular?
The single biggest year for Huston was 1922, when 60 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Huston is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Huston in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,085 people with the name Huston, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,692 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Huston in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Huston?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Huston leans strongly male. 1,065 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 21 female bearers (1.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Huston?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Huston is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Huston most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Huston in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.1% (771 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Huston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Huston a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Huston in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Huston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Huston in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Huston can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Huston?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Huston on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.